How we've come to this
by Ridel
Summary: Fallout was a fighter, not a leader. Yet now he’s faced with keeping one irreverent Autobot scientist and two human children safe while hunted by Decepticons and stranded on planet Earth.


The rain was falling in torrents. The wind whipped tree branches this way and that.

Deep in this dark and stormy night, hours away from the main roads, Two cars sat parked side by side.

One was a large, sturdy looking black pick up truck. The other a small gaudy green and yellow sports car.

A teenager lay in the back seat of each, trying their best to sleep. It was a lost cause.

In the sports car, a boy with blond hair and pail skin. In the truck, a girl with brown hair and dark tanned skin.

The Truck sighed inwardly. "How has it come to this?" he wondered to himself.

It wasn't that he had anything against their passengers. Just the opposite in fact. He'd quite enjoyed their company. No what he hated was that now those two innocent children had been dragged into something far more dangerous than they understood. And it was partly his fault.

Granted it was _mostly _Livewire's fault. The green and yellow Autobot had been blown away when they had found that there actually existed organic life in this sector of space, and had practically begged Fallout to let him keep Elvy.

And the girl for her part had been beyond amazement on meeting actual extraterrestrial/robotic life, and had literally begged to come along!

Oh he'd put his foot down at first. The meeting between them and the human girl had been an accident. That was fair enough. But there was to be no more contact between the two transformers and any humans while stuck on this planet. They were supposed to lay low until the ship was repaired. Staying in vehicle mode as much as possible to avoid detection by both their pursuers, and their unsuspecting human hosts. Then they could leave, find Prime and the others, deliver the data they were carrying, and get back in the war.

He should have known Livewire wouldn't be able to follow that fairly simple order. He'd always had a strange interest in organic life, even before they'd crashed. And now that he was stranded on a planet completely peopled with organics, he practically vibrated with excitement, and had quickly adopted a new hobby. He called it 'People watching.'

Fallout didn't like it. Livewire should have been helping him fix the ship. After all, Wire was the scientist, not Fallout. But it seamed that every time he surfaced from even the shortest of recharge cycles he'd find him gone without a trace. It had been going on for months. He'd disappear for a few hours, then come back spouting off a myriad of observations he'd made.

It was only later that Fallout had discovered that not all of Livewire's information was based solely on quiet surveillance.

Oh he swore black was blue that it was Elvy that had spotted him and reestablished contact. Fallout Didn't believe a word of it. And even if it were true, hadn't Livewire realized how much danger he'd been putting that child in just by being with her? Had he forgotten that they were not the only transformers currently on this planet? That they were being hunted?

He had to admit he'd panicked at first. Once again stating firmly that there was to be no more contact between the two.

But Fallout did not wear command well, and Livewire had no qualms about flat out disobeying him.

Now, not even a Decepticon with a crowbar could have separated him from his diminutive human friend.

After a while Fallout had calmed down. They hadn't heard a peep out of the Decepticons in months. As far as he knew, they were searching for them in some other land mass altogether. Livewire had taken to bringing Elvy to the ship, and he had to admit, after he'd spent more time with her he'd come to enjoy her company too.

It was actually kind of nice to have a youngling around again. Though Elvy would get quite indignant if you called her one to her face. Apparently sixteen earth years made one almost an adult.

And then they'd been introduced to Elvy's older brother. Three earth years her senior, Mathew had apparently become quite interested in Elvy's comings and goings over the last few weeks. Fallout Suspected he knew exactly how Matt felt, having had to put up with Livewire's constant disappearances.

Matt had a curiosity that rivaled Wire's own, and had secretly followed his sister one night when she'd snuck out to meet up with the green and yellow Autobot and spend some time at the ship.

Elvy had hardly had time to set her bag down before Matt accidentally set off the perimeter alarms.

He Wasn't sure who Matt had ended up being more afraid of. Fallout, who thinking that the Decepticons had finally caught up with them had grabbed the biggest gun he could find before rushing out to slag them. Or, once he had been caught, his livid younger sister.

It had been a rough start for Matt. But once he'd realized that he wasn't in any imminent danger of being stepped on or vaporized, he'd seamed even more excited to meet "Real live honest-to-god Giant Robots" then his sister had.

Pretty soon visits from both the younglings had become almost routine. Fortunately now that they came by most evenings, Livewire didn't run off 'people watching' nearly as much. Actually helping Fallout repair the ship.

Usually the younglings would show up and just hang around. They'd talk or joke, sharing all kinds of information about earth and asking innumerable questions about Cybertron.

They also helped the two Autobots with repairs. Their smaller hands could fit into tight spots that he and Livewire couldn't reach, saving them the trouble of dismantling quite a large portion of the ship.

He should never have let it happen. Let those two become part of their daily lives. Let himself think even for an instant that the Decepticons might not be close by. That they hadn't found the two Autobots and taken notice of their new companions.

Elvy shivered in his back seat and shifted position, now laying on her side and pulling her legs up closer to her chest.

"Are you cold Elvy?" He asked. He felt her nod her head and draw in a shuttering breath. He could hear her teeth chattering quietly.

Wordlessly he activated his heating system and soon Elvy stopped shaking.

"Thanks Fallout" She said, stretching out again.

"You should be sleeping." He chided mildly. Elvy chuckled shifted position again.

"Sorry." She apologized. "I've never been able to sleep in cars. Uh, no offense."

"None taken." He replied gruffly. "If it's any consolation, I find it hard to fall into a recharge cycle while someone is sitting inside of me."

Elvy chuckled and gently slapped the palm of her hand to her forehead. "Aw jeez that just sounds so weird and wrong."

"Dose it?" He asked. Fallout was fairly large for a transformer, and it hadn't been uncommon back on Cybertron that he'd transport other Autobots on occasion. He had to remind himself that to the humans the concept of letting another being ride inside of you was completely alien and bizarre.

"Yup, it really dose." Said Elvy, leaning back and trying to relax again. Outside the rain continued to pour, streaming waterfalls on the glass almost obscuring her view of the other, smaller car. She couldn't really tell from here, but it looked like Matt and Livewire were still awake too. Carrying on some sort of one on one, internal conversation.

Elvy was silent for a long time. Fallout was beginning to think she'd finally fallen asleep, when suddenly she spoke up again.

"Hey Fallout, are you sleeping?" She asked very quietly. He gave the cybertronian version of a sigh and answered.

"No. What's wrong Elvy?"

The human girl sat up and leaned forward between the passenger and driver seats, somehow feeling that the dash board was where Fallout's face ought to be. "I was just kind of wondering… I mean… What happens now?"

'What happens now indeed…' he thought to himself, wishing for the zillionth time that someone higher up the chain of command than he had survived the crash.

He was by no means a leader. And yet now everyone here saw him as one. Mentally he scoffed. 'Leader of two alien younglings and a scientist, who somehow manages to be quite stupid in that very special way brilliant people can be.'

Elvy shifted uncomfortably, waiting for a reply. Finally it came. It wasn't exactly what she'd hoped for.

"I don't know Elvy. Now that the Decepticons have taken control of our ship, I can't see how Livewire and I will be able to get off this planet any time soon. And as long as we're here you and your brother are in danger."

"Yeah but I don't understand that." Said Elvy, leaning forward a bit more.

"I mean, Matt and I, it's not like we have anything they want or whatever. So why did they attack us?"

Fallout's windshield wipers flicked irritably. Did she really not understand?

"Elvy, it's not that YOU have something they want. The Decepticons do not share Livewire's fascination with Organics. It's what WE have that they want."

"What do you mean?" she asked softly, forehead creasing with worry.

"You know that Livewire and I were part of a scouting party?" Asked Fallout. Elve nodded her head. She'd heard as much from Livewire.

"Well, we found something. Something important. Something that the Decepticons are building that could irreversibly turn the tide of the war in there favor, if we don't have a chance to warn anyone fist."

"So…" Said Elvy, trying to piece where she and Mathew fit in. "They thought that since Matt and I hung around with you we knew what this terribly important message was too?"

His wipers flicked again. Sometimes it amazed him how slow she could be. "No." He said patently. "What they thought was," and here his voice pitched up a few octaves, taking on a rasping tone quite reminiscent of the Decepticon jet that had attacked them at the ship. "Those sentimental Autobot fools would do anything to protect their filthy organic pets. Even surrender the data files they've been hiding!"

"…Oh." Said Elvy after a few moments of silence. She really did feel blonde for not seeing that. She sat back and folded her hands on her lap. A long drawn out silence descended on the two. Punctuated buy the constant tapping of the rain on Fallout's metal roof and glass windows.

After a while he spoke up again. "Elvy, it's past 2:30 am. Try to go back to sleep."

Elvy sighed and lay down in the back seat again. Trying to get as comfortable as possible. A half an hour later she finally drifted off into a light dreamless sleep. The drumming of the rain half waking her from time to time.

Fallout found it nigh impossible to slip into recharge. The ice cold rain and the sleeping Elvy being key contributors to this state. He knew that come morning he was going to need a course of action. Sadly, strategy had never been his strong point. But everyone would be looking to him for an answer.

An hour later he finally managed to slip into a light recharge, random and disjointed ideas and memories running through his processor.


End file.
